Black Dolls in Ebony Magazine's 40th Anniversary Issue

Ebony magazine November 1985, 40th-anniversary edition

In November 1985, Ebony magazine published its 40th-anniversary magazine that features highlights from the 1945 through 1984 publications. The covers of these editions appear on the front cover and on the inside of the front cover.

Known for featuring dolls and toys in their November issues, "Black Toys: They've come a long way since 1945," is one of the last articles in this November 1985 issue. The article on black dolls is the reason I purchased this issue several years ago. 

Scans from Google of the three-page article and two separate ads are included below. (If necessary, click to enlarge or stretch the images to enlarge.)

This full-page ad for Olmec's original super hero action figure, Sun-Man, precedes the first page of the "Black Toys" article.

1st Page of the Article

The opening paragraph of the article reads:

In 1945, the only little girls who had Black dolls were those lucky enough to have mothers, grandmothers or aunts who could sew and make rag dolls. It was almost impossible to go into a store in the U.S. and buy a Black doll. The result was that Black girls had to content themselves with hugging and cuddling blonde dolls.

The captions for the photos on the first page of the article read: 

1) Today's Black girls can cuddle up to dolls that resemble them like the Sugar-n-Spice doll (above, l.), Huggy Bean (middle), Potpurri (foreground) and Little Tina (lying down).

2) "Sun-Man" series by Olmec Corp. (right) includes flexible heroic action figures designed specifically for the Black child.

2nd Page

The caption for the dolls on the second page of the article reads as follows:

Twins Keith and Keisha (left) are among the 30 Black dolls produced by the Keisha Doll Co. Keisha (foreground) sports a corn row hairstyle. Keith (rear) has an Afro.*

*The doll described as Keith in the caption above is actually a fashion doll by Tanline.

3rd Page

An embedded ad for Golden Ribbon Plaything's Huggy Bean and her pal Oni-Bean is on the final page of the article. 

Shown below is an ad for boy and girl Kotton Kandy Kid dolls. This ad appears several pages before the "Black Toys" article in this issue of Ebony. 

In 1985, Kotton Kandy Kid dolls could be ordered for $15 each plus shipping.

In addition to Black dolls, the "Black Toys" article discusses ride-on toys, board games, action figures, and other dolls and toys new to the market in 1985. Toys designed specifically for Black children and those who desired to purchase diverse playthings for their children were the focus of this article, which ends with the following statement.

Unlike Black children of 40 years ago, today's Black children needn't settle for dolls and games that ignore their heritage. 

 

Related Reading

Ashanti Keisha Joins Cleopatra Keisha

Huggy Bean Doll Company

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

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Naziah The Bride and her Groom

Made by Keisha Doll Company are "The Groom" #922M and "Naziah the Bride" #922 ©1983

The Groom and Naziah the Bride, catalog numbers 922M and 922, respectively were made by the Keisha Doll Company ©1983. According to Myla Perkins's book, Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide 1820 to 1991, Bridesmaid Minon style #806 was also made. The book does not include a picture of the bridesmaid.

This pair arrived in late May and gives me a total of seven different Keisha Doll Company Dolls. Four can be seen here and a fifth can be seen here.

With each Keisha purchase, I always say it will be my last. Because this purchase included a boy, I had to have the pair. Both are in near pristine condition.

The boy uses a different head sculpt than Naziah, which is another reason I needed this pair. (There's always a good reason to add another doll to a collection, right?)

Both dolls are 23 inches tall, all-vinyl, and have brown sleep eyes. The boy's head is unmarked. The girl's head is marked:
KEISHA II
©H.J.S. 1983
008695

H.J.S. are the initials of Helen J. Steward, the founder of the Keisha Doll Company.

Both dolls' bodies bear the same markings as Naziah's head markings.

Both dolls have rooted hair.

The groom's hair is black. Naziah, which means "companion, friend," has multiple brown rooted braids with four off-white beads added to the braids that frame her face.

The groom wears a white gabardine tuxedo with a white sleeveless, lace-front shirt; a white bowtie, and cummerbund. Naziah wears a full-length white lace dress that has an attached white satin skirt underneath.

Naziah's shoes

Naziah wears white satin undies over white lace stockings with formerly white, now yellowed satin slippers.

The groom's shoes

The groom wears white socks with his white mock lace-up shoes.

Provenance, etc: The seller's mother, who was a doll collector, bequeathed over 400 dolls to her, many of which had been purchased in duplicate. I had seen this Keisha Doll Company pair on eBay for months but was not willing to pay the original asking price. After seeing the seller's Darling Debbie listing, I communicated my desire to own the Keisha pair as well as Darling Debbie. The seller graciously offered a better price for the three dolls and, as indicated in Darling Debbie's post, because she lives locally, she offered and did deliver the dolls to my home free of charge. We both wore masks.

Will seven Keisha Doll Company dolls be enough for me?

dbg

Related Links:
Ashanti Keisha Joins Cleopatra Keisha
Cleopatra B Keisha Joins Ashanti and Cleopatra A Keisha
Who Mails a Doll in an Envelope?
Keisha #5 For Me



There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
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Keisha #5 (For Me)

Keisha by the Keisha Doll Company, 1985 is an all-vinyl 24-inch doll.

I am not quite sure what fuels my love for the Keisha line of dolls, but I clearly remain enthused about them.  Perhaps the fact that they were created by an African American woman (a decade before I began collecting dolls); and the fact that had I known about the dolls, I would have certainly purchased at least one for my daughter are the reasons for my Keisha enthusiasm.

My first Keisha was purchased during the 1990s (Cleopatra A).  I had said I would stop buying them after the third one was purchased (Ashanti I), but along came the fourth (Ashanti II).  Then I saw this one dressed in everyday clothing on eBay and couldn't resist making the seller an offer that she did not refuse.

This is my first Keisha that is not in costume to represent a historic African American female.  That is probably another reason I wanted her. My other four represent two versions of Cleopatra and two versions of Ashanti.

So this doll is just Keisha, made by the Keisha Doll Co. by a former school teacher, Helen J. Steward.  Ms. Steward often named the dolls that did not represent historic figures after students; and because Keisha was a common name at the time, she decided to use that as the name for the company and for the original doll.  It is possible that she gave this one a name other than Keisha, too.

Keisha arrived, as shown above, wearing socks with her clothes but no shoes.  Otherwise,
she appears to be dressed originally.

The head is marked Keisha II/©H.J.S 1983/008695.  Like the others, she is all-vinyl and stands 24 inches tall.  She has mounds of closely rooted black curly hair and brown sleep eyes.  She arrived wearing a long-sleeved red turtleneck top, blue denim pants, and white knit socks.

I removed the socks and added navy blue faux suede sandals.  (I found these "newborn" size sandals in my My Twinn stash of doll shoes.)

Like the others, she now has pierced ears to which I have added gold stud earrings.  I also added two gold hair ornaments to her hair.  I might add more of the same hair ornaments later.  For now, the two will do.

Keisha poses here in a full-view photograph after the hair ornaments and sandals were added.  I think a denim vest, a blue suede vest with fringe, or a pendant necklace would complement her fashion.

More information about the Keisha Doll Company is included in one of my earlier posts about my first two Keisha dolls and can be read here.

Other Related Links:
Sandals for Ashanti Keisha
Cleopatra B Joins Ashanti and Cleopatra A Keisha
Who Mails a Doll in an Envelope (Ashanti II Keisha)

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
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New Headscarf for Ashanti Keisha II

Ashanti Keisha II originally wore an orange headband

I replaced the orange headband, shown above, that Ashanti Keisha II was wearing with a multicolored (red, green, yellow, and black) scarf remnant as shown in the next photo.

The scarf is tied on one side.

The side tie with ends fluffed out in an almost floral shape is illustrated here.

Back on display

Ashanti Keisha II and her sisters Cleopatra A, Cleopatra B, and Ashanti I are seen along with other dolls in this crowded corner of the doll room.

I like the scarf much better on her  than  the orange headband.

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for following, commenting, and sharing using the share button below.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
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Who Mails a Doll in an Envelope?

A 23-inch doll wrapped in a sheet of thin foam was mailed to me inside two paper priority mail envelopes!

I was shocked that Keisha (doll #4 in my collection) arrived unscathed after seeing how the seller chose to package the doll, as illustrated above.  Thankfully, she made it without issues.  That was shock #2 on the date of delivery.  Shock #1 was a notification email sent from the United States Postal Service at 8:57 p.m. that a package had just been delivered.  It was almost 10 p.m. when I read the message and hurried to the front door to find the doll in the corner of the porch packaged as shown.

Here is Keisha as she was after I removed her from the envelopes and before wiping her face and body with a wet towel.

Close-up of Keisha after wiping her face and body off.

As illustrated in the second photo, Keisha arrived with bare feet wearing her original Kente-cloth-print dress, two yellow beaded necklaces, and a brass-tone bracelet.  Some of the inner portions of the bracelet were turning green, so I removed it.

I decided to make sandals for the doll using sheets of brown foam and cork.  A hot glue gun was used to glue the pieces together.

This is the first version of Keisha's completed sandals.

Keisha wears her new sandals in this full-view photo.  Her two yellow beaded necklaces were draped across her body and I added a black headband, which is better visible in the next picture.

In addition to the black headband, I added black rubber bands to the ends of her braids.

Keisha #4, whose historical character I am unsure about, was photographed with Cleopatra A Keisha, Cleopatra B Keisha, and Ashanti Keisha. 

The Third World series of dolls that Keisha is from were dressed as African American historical figures.  It is possible that Keisha #4 is another version of Ashanti Keisha.  Her dress is identical to Ashanti Keisha's dress.  She might be missing a headwrap and an additional cloth that would be worn over the dress.  Her complexion is also darker than Ashanti Keisha's.  In fact, of all four dolls, she has the deepest complexion.  Perhaps the company made a medium brown and a dark brown Ashanti Keisha.  Ashanti Keisha and Keisha #4 have the same hairstyle.

After Ashanti #2 (Keisha #4) was photographed with the other Keisha dolls, I decided to add a cutout design to her sandals similar to what was done for the sandals I made for Ashanti #1 and Cleopatra B.

Using pinking shears, I cut out two strips of brown foam and glued each to the forefoot area of each sandal.

The black headband was replaced with the orange one illustrated here.  Gold-tone round earrings were added.

A gold-tone beaded necklace was draped between the two yellow beaded necklaces that Keisha arrived wearing.  I created a replacement bracelet using a tan beaded necklace by wrapping it around her wrist several times.

Looking as good as she did in approximately 1984 when she entered the doll market, Ashanti Keisha posed for this final photograph prior to joining her sisters in the doll room.

Related Links:
Ashanti Keisha Joins Cleopatra A Keisha

Sandals for Ashanti Keisha

Cleopatra B Keisha Joins Ashanti and Cleopatra A

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for following, commenting, and sharing using the share button below.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Cleopatra B Keisha Joins Ashanti and Cleopatra A Keisha

Cleopatra A Keisha by the Keisha Doll Company 1983

Keisha as Cleopatra, a 23-inch, all-vinyl doll was found in early April for $9.99 plus shipping (shipping was $15!). She arrived gritty with bare feet wearing original pants and head wrap.  The pants were at her waist, exposing her bare chest. I assumed these should cover her chest; however, in an image in Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide 1820 to 1991 by Myla Perkins (Collector Books 1993) the doll's pants are oddly at her waist.

Described as Keisha Cleopatra B. (the company made three different Cleopatras, thus the B that follows her name), as shown in the book image, above, left, "the doll wears an original one-piece pant outfit in a beautiful African print, gold colored plastic necklace, gold sandals, white beads in braided hair... [and holds] a gold painted grass fan."  Keisha as Cleopatra A is shown on the right in the above image.  My doll's beads, if they were ever present, are missing along with her fan and shoes.  Her eyelashes were also missing, which made her eyes look bare and cold.  I added false eyelashes to improve her appearance.  See how this was done in the next four photos:

Upon arrival, poor Keisha's eyelashes were missing, gone, zapped!

To replace Keisha's eyelashes, I trimmed two sections from the corners of one false eyelash.

The cut eyelash sections were slid underneath the slit between her eyelids and eyeballs (the same area where her missing eyelashes had been).  The preplaced adhesive on the eyelashes is enough to hold them in place. So no gluing was necessary.

With eyelashes, Keisha looks so much better!

After cleaning her body thoroughly, adjusting her romper to cover her chest area, and adding the eyelashes, I pierced her ears and inserted burnt orange earrings into her earlobes.  An elasticized beaded bracelet serves as a necklace.  Both the earrings and "necklace" coordinate with the earth tone colors of the romper and head wrap.

The next task was to make a pair of sandals for Keisha.  Images and captions of how this was done follow:

Sandal Materials:  A card stock template of both feet (created by tracing each foot onto the card stock and then cutting the tracing out), foam cutouts using the templates in two contrasting colors for the innersoles and soles, two foam strips to create the forefoot straps of the sandals, and a staple gun.

After measuring the length needed for the sandal strap to fit around the circumference of Keisha's forefoot, a strip of foam was cut and the ends stapled together with a staple gun, as shown above.  I lucked out here because the strap circumference fit comfortably around the base of the staple gun. Both side edges of the strap were stapled together.

The sandal strap was placed around what would be the innersole of the sandal and Keisha's foot placed between.  This was done to ensure a proper fit before the sole was glued into place.

Before gluing the sole into place, the underside of the strap was stapled to the bottom of the innersole, as shown.

Next, Aleene's Tacky Glue was applied to the bottom of the innersoles and straps.

The soles of the sandals were placed on top of the glued area of the under surface of the innersoles. 

Excess glue was wiped away from the edges and both sandals were placed under heavy objects and allowed to dry for several hours.

These are Keisha's completed sandals. A hint of the contrasting color used for the sole can be seen along with my uneven cutting.  I added a pyramid design to the strap.

In the final photo, Cleopatra B Keisha joins Ashanti and Cleopatra A Keisha.  Ashanti arrived in July of 2015 and was featured in a post which provides additional details about the 1980s Keisha Doll Company. As outlined in that post, Cleopatra A was purchased during the late 1990s/early 2000s.

The Keisha Doll Company made over 30 different Keisha dolls representing a variety of historical females and males of African descent.  Very few of the 30+ dolls were dressed in everyday fashions, such as a school girl.

Do I need any more Keishas beyond these three?  No, absolutely not, but if a Keisha dressed in contemporary clothing crosses my path, I will stop at four.


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